Confidence building or just plain scary?

Calshot 2011  

For the first time our annual trip to Calshot included not only Year 11 students preparing for their exams but also Year 10 students who doubled the numbers involved this year, bringing an extra element to the weekend away.
Having the students mix with others from different year groups helped develop new friendships and encouraged the desired personal qualities arising from the various challenges that awaited them in a packed two days, including courage, resilience and a sense of togetherness.

Ther group left the Academy on Friday afternoon and spent the evening settling in and playing sports in the Schneider Hanger before heading to their rooms and the sound of excitable chatter past midnight which meant there were a few weary looking faces at breakfast at 8 when they were greeted by the most glorious blue sky which lasted throughout the day.
From that point on until almost 12 hours later the students and staff were engaged in a number of activities including skiing, climbing and low ropes leaving them tired but proud of what they’d achieved. Summoning their remaining reserves they even had the energy to enjoy a competition evening running relay races, benchball and dodgeball before Luke McIndoe achieved a fantastic sporting feat finishing a long running sporting challenge late in the night.

There wasn’t much time for rest before the diet of physical challenge was repeated throughout Sunday when the climbing and skiing moved on to a higher level as well as the high ropes and archery. Many staff from the Academy took the chance to visit the group at Cashot and were able to see the students achieve things they simply hadn’t believed they could as their confidence increased with encouragement from others.